@imaginaries.bsky.social
Researching on sociotechnical fictions, hype, financialisation and cyberlibertarianism Working on a video essay on venture capital and religion Co-founder of hypestudies.org andreubelsunces.net
How is Sam Altman's World infrastructuring a post-democratic AI future? In this paper published in AI & Society, @laura4lano.bsky.social and I analyse how World's value is built on sociotechnical fictions & existential risk narratives that advance a cyberlibertarian transition. tinyurl.com/c8kt4bbz
02.03.2026 10:08 โ ๐ 9 ๐ 3 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Estrenamos en @elsaltodiario.com colaboraciรณn con @hypestudies.bsky.social traduciendo al espaรฑol sus artรญculos sobre tecnopolรญtica.
Se estrenan con esta maravilla de texto sobre el hype y fondos de inversiรณn de Andreu Belsunces @imaginaries.bsky.social www.elsaltodiario.com/hype-studies...
for more crypto histories & imaginaries tune into www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_gW...
@lanalanalana.bsky.social , Andreu Belsunces
@imaginaries.bsky.social & Kobe De Keere cattting to @philiproscoe.bsky.social and @addiemcgowan.bsky.social
Is there a risk that the dynamics of military technology hype enroll us all into a war hype? I argue yes in this piece just published by @techpolicypress.bsky.social. www.techpolicy.press/tech-venture...
22.01.2026 14:53 โ ๐ 30 ๐ 16 ๐ฌ 2 ๐ 0
Really enjoyed the conversation for the @jcultecon.bsky.social podcast. We discussed the paper we wrote with @arturocastro.bsky.social on how crypto embeds and reproduces neoliberalism, and how it participates in and benefits from crisis.
Enjoy the podcast, and please be patient with my Spanglish!
Chart showing 16-year-old Adam Raineโs use of ChatGPT from the start of his account to his death by suicide in April 2025
Kevinโs chart really says it all. this is what it looks like when a vulnerable user gets sucked in by an engagement optimized chatbot
29.12.2025 00:42 โ ๐ 161 ๐ 68 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 4
When a tech bubble grows, venture capital cashes in. Its high risk, high reward model depends on constantly persuading others that its futures matter. Thatโs why VC has a structural need for hype.
Read my latest piece at @techpolicypress.bsky.social + @hypestudies.bsky.social
The toolkit is still in beta. We hope to release it in the first quarter of next year -along with a hype literacy toolkit for journalists ๐๐ผ๐ฉ๐ผโ๐ซ
11.11.2025 10:31 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Also at @mozilla.org Fest, check out this AMAZING interactive installation, a visual database of AGI hype discourse, created by a group of talented students: hype-arenas.xyz Itโs beautiful to see how oneโs own research can step beyond academic language and become this โฌ๏ธ
07.11.2025 10:42 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Getting ready to my talk on Artificial General Intelligence as a form of both Deep Hype and as Futures Governance instrument at @mozilla.org Fest. Come by if you around! schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/159
06.11.2025 12:02 โ ๐ 8 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 1
If youโre at @mozilla.org Fest this Saturday, join @hypestudies.bsky.social for a conversation on hype as a tech governance instrument by other means. The discussion will be facilitated through the first version of our Hype Literacy Toolkit ๐
๐ schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/31
"Ten lossmaking artificial intelligence start-ups have gained close to $1tn in valuation over the past 12 months, an unprecedented increase that adds to fears about an inflating bubble in private markets that could spill over into the wider economy."
16.10.2025 11:20 โ ๐ 52 ๐ 18 ๐ฌ 6 ๐ 6
The weird & reactionary technopolitics of today are the result of 30+ years of debate among US technologists. Our paper with @arturocastro.bsky.social "Cryptofinancial Imaginaries" is out in the new issue of Journal of Cultural Economy.
Thrilled to be part of this debate: tinyurl.com/24ptrbkn
And that's a wrap! @hypestudies.bsky.social conference over and out! ๐ซกThank you so much to all the incredible people who attended.
This is what academia can be ๐ซถ
Final preparations for our conference! ๐ฉ
We are tremendously excited to welcome all participants in-person and online tomorrow for the first conference on Hype Studies! The time has come ๐๐
Wishing safe travels to all those who are joining us from afar!
We are most honoured to host our book launch event for Neil Pollock and Robin Williams's deeply anticipated 'After Hype'!
10.09.2025 13:13 โ ๐ 10 ๐ 3 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
A very special applause for our group's rising star Isa Luiten! Isa not only presented her amazing work on NewSpace and Hype from her forthcoming Thesis, but is also our tireless research assistant, keeping the Hype Studies group and conference in place. Thank you, Isa!
10.09.2025 13:45 โ ๐ 9 ๐ 3 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Fantastic panel today on 'AI Hype: Between Power and Resistance' with amazing contributions by Kat Fuller, @danmk.bsky.social, Tianqi Kou, Dana Calacci, Nasser Eledroos, and Jacek Maลko who also acted as stellar chair, debating power across multiple themes, from anti-trans hype to AGI!
10.09.2025 13:48 โ ๐ 8 ๐ 3 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0What is deep hype? ๐ณ๏ธ This week at @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference I'll present a paper where I define deep hype as a "long-term dynamic that projects civilisational transformation through uncertain futures, making its promises unverifiable in the present" arxiv.org/pdf/2508.19749
08.09.2025 11:17 โ ๐ 6 ๐ 3 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Join us at the hybrid keynote at the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference by Gemma Milne, author of "Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It"
Wednesday 10Sept from 17 to 18:30 CEST.
Free with previous registration: framaforms.org/dont-believe...
The final programme and the abstract booklet for the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference is out!
Programme: hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Booklet hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Join us online at from 10-12/9 at hypestudies.org
Nuestro artรญculo de @techpolicypress.bsky.social sobre las polรญticas del hype en relaciรณn al capitalismo tecno-financiero y sus derivas autoritarias ha sido traducido al espaรฑol en @elsaltodiario.com.
www.elsaltodiario.com/atenea_cybor...
The phantom of the AI bubble bust is back. Jascha Bareis and I wrote for @techpolicypress.bsky.social about how hype is a political force, benefitting some while harming others.
Hype literacy and @hypestudies.bsky.social matters: we need to learn who creates it, why, and how it shapes our futures.
Fabian Muniesa (2025) 'Finance, paranoia and the radicalisation of value' -- a piece about the political implication of 'Paranoid Finance' (Polity Press, 2024).
'Finance, paranoia and the radicalisation of value' tank.tv/magazine/iss...
10.06.2025 14:59 โ ๐ 33 ๐ 11 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 3
Want to participate in our Hype Studies Conference?
Bear in mind that tomorrow is the last day to submit your proposal โฐ๐ฅ๐
Call for Abstracts and Projects: hypestudies.org/conference
What are sociotechnical fictions?
In my new paper I explain how, unlike literary forms, such fictions operate within the contours of science and technology to bring the imaginary into reality -and how they do so through epistemic, aesthetic, affective and normative agencies.
๐ shorturl.at/acsrK
๐ฅ Techno-authoritarianism has been brewing since at least the 1970s ๐ฅ
In this new paper, @arturocastro.bsky.social and I trace how neoliberal theoriesโdistrust in the state, private money, and the fetish of decentralisationโgrounded the technical principles of contemporary cryptocurrencies.
If you happen to be in Rome next week, I'll be showing how speculative research, STS, and theory fiction can come together to inquire about techno-financial imagination and its toxic relation to the sacred and ineffable
21.03.2025 13:49 โ ๐ 6 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0Indeed in intersects with bullshit, a lot! In fact, Dani Shanley is currently researching the topic: www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/da-shanley
20.03.2025 12:23 โ ๐ 3 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0Folks, this is going to be big: โHype Studies is an emergent, transdisciplinary research arena aimed at inquiring hype as a powerful and pervasive phenomenon that influences economic trends, political agendas, media narratives, and technological developments.โ hypestudies.org
18.03.2025 14:08 โ ๐ 172 ๐ 30 ๐ฌ 13 ๐ 8